Public news about the A350 XWB collected in the web.
Follow these and more news in Twitter @A350Blog

03 December 2014

Air Tahiti studying the A350 for fleet renewal. Available slots –again- is a driver.

Air Tahiti Nui is considering either the A330neo or the A350 Family of aircraft as potential replacements for its fleet of 5 A340-300s. The Tahiti Infos news site says the carrier is looking to acquire either 4 upgraded A330s or A350-900s. Given order backlogs with manufacturers Airbus, Air Tahiti Nui will likely only take delivery of its first new aircraft in 2019/2020 at the earliest.

Source: Airbus

"It is not we who define the schedule, it is the manufacturers," CEO Michel Monvoisin said. "At this point in time, we have to consider that the best possible delivery date [for new jets] will be in either 2019 or 2020."

Source: publico.pt

The renewal plan has taken on a strong degree of urgency given that the expiration in 2017 of a French law exempting tax on investments in France's overseas territories (Loi de Développement économique des outremers - Lodeom) could result in an extra-cost in each aircraft of around EUR 67million.

Based on the article “Air Tahiti Nui studying the A330neo, A350 for fleet renewal” published in Ch-aviation